Motor vehicles today are increasingly equipped with closure elements that can be operated by a motor. By way of example, such closure elements may be doors, such as side doors and tailgates, particularly sliding doors, hatches, particularly rear hatches, boot lids, bonnets, cargo space floors or the like in a motor vehicle. In this respect, the term “closure element” has a broad meaning in the present case.
An added-convenience function that is becoming increasingly important today is the automatic operation of the motor-driven rear hatch of a motor vehicle. In the case of the known method (DE 20 2005 020 140 U1) on which this invention is based, provision is made for an operator control event from the operator, in this case a foot movement by the operator, to prompt the motor-driven opening of the rear hatch.
The known method makes use of a control arrangement and a sensor arrangement, and in the course of operator control event monitoring the control arrangement is used to monitor the sensor measured values from the sensor arrangement to determine whether there is a predetermined operator control event.
The sensor arrangement has two capacitive sensors that extend over the entire width of the motor vehicle. An operator control event, in this case a foot movement by the operator, can easily be sensed electronically.
Difficulties can arise when, during use based on normal operation, the mechanical configuration of the motor vehicle is altered by an adjusting process or by a fitting process. By way of example, such a change of configuration can trace back to the fitting or adjustment of tow couplings, bicycle holders, roofracks or the like. In principle, these motor vehicle components can disturb the sensing of the operator control events by the sensor arrangement. This applies particularly when the control arrangement and the sensor arrangement are optimized for a quite particular configuration, particularly for a configuration without tow coupling or the like.
The invention is based on the problem of designing and developing the known method such that robust operator control event monitoring is ensured even when the configuration of the motor vehicle changes.